Jung-Eun Janie Lee, Department of Linguistics, UCSB

"Representations of Asian English in Hollywood Films"

The media representation of linguistic varieties is understudied in sociolinguistics (but see, e.g., Lippi-Green 1997, Meek 2006, Ronkin&Karn 1999). Representations of Asian and Asian American speech, in particular, have only recently received attention (e.g., Chun 2004). In contrast, there is a long research tradition in ethnic studies focusing on the portrayal of Asian film characters, but most works examine visual representations, overlooking linguistic issues. The present paper builds on previous research by analyzing representations of Asian characters’ language use. Drawing from theories of ethnic studies and methods of discourse analysis, the paper examines the ways in which Asian English is represented in popular Hollywood films from the 1950s to the present day.

The analysis, which is drawn from a larger study of Hollywood representations of Asian speech, is based on 40 films that were selected due to their importance in previous ethnic studies scholarship on Asian stereotypes. The analysis demonstrates the ongoing representational practices of Hollywood films that reproduce the forever foreigner stereotype (Tuan 1998), the belief that all Asians are foreigners who are marginal to the mainstream culture of the United States. The linguistic dimension of this stereotype is the representation of Asian characters as nonnative speakers of English with limited language proficiency, which leads to misunderstandings and conflicts with characters who are native speakers. The analysis examines the socially indexical meanings of Asian English, and
particularly, the stereotypes that it reproduces. For example, nonnative fluency is employed to present the linguistic and cultural differences between non-Asian and immigrant Asian characters as all but insurmountable (e.g., Do the Right Thing). Asian English is also adopted to create a comical effect, often due to misunderstanding. 

The paper demonstrates that despite trends in Asian American cinema to portray the diverse linguistic backgrounds of Asians in the United States, the overwhelmingly negative representations of Asian English in mainstream Hollywood films reinforce the longstanding stereotype of Asians as forever
foreigners.

Lea Harper, Department of Linguistics, UCSB

"Film Media Representations of AAVE: Frequency, Indexicality, and Ideology"

In early sociolinguistics, little attention was paid to linguistic portrayals in the media. With a growing interest in language ideologies, however, researchers have begun to shift their attention toward media representations of language as important illuminations of real-world ideologies (e.g. Lippi-Green 1997; Queen 2004), though this is still an underexamined area within the field.

One longstanding language ideology is that nonstandard varieties of English are inferior to standard English. African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is widely considered to be the most stigmatized nonstandard U.S. variety of English. AAVE is often viewed as a simple collection of the latest slang words, used by people who are stupid, poor and lazy.

Building on previous work on language ideologies about AAVE in the public mind, this study provides a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the linguistic portrayal of African Americans in film. The study assesses the claim of previous studies (Fine and Anderson 1980; Labov 1998; Fought and Harper 2004) that those AAVE features generally shared by a number of nonstandard dialects are more prevalent in the media. Through quantitative analysis, it is shown that general nonstandard features are indeed more prevalent in the films. Furthermore, to illustrate that the media is not simply reflecting a phenomenon that occurs in real AAVE-speaking communities, these results are compared with results from previous community studies. This comparison confirms that the preference for general nonstandard features over AAVE-specific features is in fact a media, and not a real-world, phenomenon.

The final finding is rooted in an argument made by Lippi-Green:

Film uses language variation and accent to draw character quickly, building on established preconceived notions associated with specific regional loyalties, ethnic, racial or economic alliances. (1997: 81)

Results of the analysis of this issue show that films use AAVE to index low socioeconomic status, low level of education, high criminal involvement, and high aggression, or some combination of these. Conversely, standard English indexes high socioeconomic status, high level of education, low criminal involvement, and low aggression, or some combination of these. Cases of style-shifting further cement this indexicality by illustrating that a character switches from a style more dense with AAVE features to a more standard English style when they are attempting to highlight their intelligence or status in a high-prestige environment.

The results of this study demonstrate the importance of examining media representations as well as community practices to fully understand the social uses and meanings of AAVE in American society.